A wireless local area network (WLAN) may be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by a number of client devices also referred to as stations (STAs). The basic building block of a WLAN conforming to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards is a Basic Service Set (BSS), which is managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified by a service set identifier (SSID) that is advertised by the AP. An AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish and/or maintain a communication link with the WLAN. In a typical WLAN, each STA may be associated with only one AP at a time. To identify an AP with which to associate, a STA is configured to perform scans on the wireless channels of each of one or more frequency bands (for example, the 2.4 GHz band and/or the 5 GHz band). As a result of the increasing ubiquity of wireless networks, a STA may have the opportunity to select one of many WLANs within range of the STA and/or select among multiple APs that together form an extended BSS. After association with an AP, a STA also may be configured to periodically scan its surroundings to find a more suitable AP with which to associate. For example, a STA that is moving relative to its associated AP may perform a “roaming” scan to find an AP having more desirable network characteristics such as a greater received signal strength indicator (RSSI).
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (for example, time, frequency, and space). The AP may be coupled to a network, such as the Internet, and may enable a station to communicate via the network including communicating with other devices coupled to the AP.
An important modulation technique utilized by these wireless systems is quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). There remains a need for techniques to modulate and demodulate signals using higher order QAM to further increase the peak data rate. Accordingly, there is a need for systems, apparatus, and methods that overcome the deficiencies of conventional approaches including the methods, system and apparatus provided hereby.